Dili, May 18 (Lusa) - The East Timor government called on Thursday for
the creation of an international commission of inquiry in order to determine
how many people died in rioting last month in Dili.

The move by the Timorese authorities to press of an international
investigation into the events of April 28 in Dili, when five people died and
about 80 were injured according to official accounts, was in response to
accusations by a dissident army officer a day earlier that more than 60
people were killed in Dili.

Major Alfredo Reinaldo, the head of the military police who broke with
the armed forces high command after the deadly mob violence, also charged
that Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri had illegally ordered troops to confront
protestors and rioters.

Reinaldo`s account of the events surrounding the deadly Dili clashes was
supported by the army's second-in-command, Colonel Lere Anan Timor, who told
Lusa he had been given "verbal orders" by Alkatiri to deploy soldiers
against the rioters after a crisis cabinet meeting of three ministers and
Timor's police chief.

A spokesman from the Dili Foreign Ministry told Lusa that international
investigators would be free to talk to whomever they liked, employ their own
interpreters and have responsibility for the entire logistical organization
of the process into uncovering the truth behind last month's violence and
the disputed casualty figures.

The call for an international inquiry commission was made on behalf of
the Timorese government by Foreign Minister José Ramos Horta, added the
spokesman.